Moon's Melancholy
by xSakuraBlossom
Summary: Oneshot. Momo and Ryoma have been dating for a while. They're happy with their relationship. But what happens when jealousy starts to worm its way in between them? Inspired by Chinese legend of Chang E. Warnings: Shounen-ai, angst.


Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis in any way, except for a deck of cards and a Rubix Cube featuring some of the characters. The legend of Chang E belongs to Chinese mythology.

A/N: The first 2 parts are written in 3rd person; the last 2 parts are written from Ryoma's point of view. If someone could come up with better lines at the beginning of each part (the italicized lines), that would be helpful. Hope you enjoy this!

Full Moon

_Lovers, when staring at the night sky, are so happy that they feel they could float to the stars. That's why they feel the moon is close enough for them to grasp._

Momo calls him "Ocean-eyes". It doesn't make sense to other people, but Ryoma knows Momo is referring to the colour of his hair and his favorite part of Ryoma. They decided to come up with strange pet names like that years ago.

Momo would have made it something much dirtier, but Ryoma put his foot down, saying there was no way he'd be called "Ocean-ass" or something.

While Momo calls Ryoma "Ocean-eyes", Ryoma calls him "Moon Bunny". That name makes Kaidoh laugh, since he thinks Momo's as weak as a rabbit, and runs away as fast as one too. Momo gets mad at Kaidoh, but he knows the name doesn't mean anything like that. He thinks the name means he's special, since there's only one moon rabbit.

To Ryoma, the name actually has a deeper meaning. The moon pulls the ocean towards it, creating high and low tides. Just as the moon pulls the ocean, Momo draws Ryoma in. No matter where he goes, Ryoma follows too.

Not only that, but the Moon Bunny itself has its own significance. In ancient Chinese lore, they tell of a rabbit that lives on the moon. Day in, day out, it pounds steadily at a magical medicinal powder. This powder is formed into tiny pills- pills for eternal life.

When Ryoma is with Momo, each moment seems to last forever. Time doesn't fly when you're having fun. If it does, you're not having real fun. With Momo, time slows down, and Ryoma etches every moment into his memory, keeping it there forever. With Momo, Ryoma can have a glimpse of eternity, just like the Moon Rabbit can gift eternal life using his magical pills.

Because of Momo's nickname, Ryoma and Momo make it a tradition to go stargazing once a month- during the full moon. They can spot and name every constellation, see shapes in the moon, pick out the faraway spots that are the planets.

Ryoma gazes at the moon, seeing the rabbit there. The moon seems so close, as though if Ryoma just stretches out his hand, he can grab it. He reaches out and closes his hand into a fist, covering the moon. He's caught it, he thinks wryly.

Momo asks what Ryoma is doing. Ryoma smiles and replies, "I'm thinking about you." Momo blinks as Ryoma grabs his arm and curls up against him.

Ryoma doesn't need to reach for the moon. His is already right beside him.

Half Moon

_The full moon, no matter how beautiful it is, must still wane. There is always the dark side of the moon, waiting to appear._

There's another story that mentions the moon rabbit. It's a much sadder one. Actually, it's not the rabbit's story; it's the story of a woman and her husband. Her husband received 2 pills for everlasting life in return for doing mankind a great favor. He meant to give one to his wife and one to himself. But she was greedy and took both. Instead of getting eternal life, she became a deity. Instantly, she began floating, and flew all the way to the moon despite all her efforts to stay connected to the earth. On the moon, she met the moon rabbit, her only companion. So far from her husband, she can only meet him once a year now- when the moon is at its roundest, on 8.15 of the Chinese lunar year.

The first time Ryoma read this story, he thought the girl was kind of smart. Who wouldn't want to live forever? With just one pill, she would still have aged. Like this, she could stay young forever. Besides, she'd be a deity. Her husband would definitely love her forever. But as he got older, he realized just how selfish and stupid the woman had been. If she'd only eaten one, her husband could have eaten the other, and they would have lived forever together. Instead, she was now completely alone on the moon. Yes, she was forever beautiful, but with nothing but a rabbit to keep her company throughout eternity, she would be forever lonely as well. She would suffer forever for her greed.

But Ryoma still understands in a way why she did it. She probably didn't want her husband to leave her, and she thought that if she was a deity, she would be able to keep him with her forever. She probably just didn't want their time to end. She wanted to stay with him forever. But through her actions towards that end, she ended up losing her happiness, ending with everlasting loneliness instead.

In later times, Ryoma would look back and realize that he had made the exact same mistake as the woman in the legend. In his greed for happiness, he lost his only chance of ever attaining it.

Crescent Moon

_Within weeks, the moon will change from a round, perfect circle to a pointed, sharp crescent. Love, too, changes in the blink of an eye, crossing the line from protectiveness to jealousy._

It wasn't even something big. Momo just had a fight with Kaidoh. It was a normal occurrence. But something sparked in me.

"Momo, I don't want you fighting with Kaidoh anymore. I don't want you seeing him anymore!" I was upset. I didn't even know why I was upset. But I was.

Momo frowned slightly. "Why the heck would you say that? I mean, it's just fighting. It's not like we're doing anything bad, right? Besides, we were fighting over the name you gave me. He called me a coward again!"

"I don't care! Just stop talking to him!" I yelled. It was unreasonable. Why would I be so angry? But I didn't really care now. I was mad, and that was it. I'd yell if he wanted to.

Momo could tell I was truly pissed off now. He didn't know why, but he knew when to back down. "All right, Ryoma, if it makes you happy. I won't talk to him any more."

But when Kaidoh yelled at him the next day, Momo still glanced angrily at him, before turning aside with an effort. I was still upset. It hadn't worked. Momo didn't talk to Kaidoh any more, but I still got mad when they even looked at each other. What the hell was my problem?

I tried to ignore it. But when Momo's eyes sparked yet again at one of Kaidoh's pointed comments, I snapped.

"Momo, can I talk to you?" The other regulars didn't question it much. Our relationship had long since been accepted amongst the team. Nobody stopped us as we walked away from the tennis courts.

"What's up, Ocean-eyes?" Somehow, hearing my nickname made me even more upset.

"Momo, stop looking at Kaidoh! It's annoying me how much you look at him. You look at him more than you look at me! It's almost like he's your boyfriend, not me." That still wasn't it, I thought wretchedly. That wasn't the problem. Something else was enraging me like this, but I didn't know what it was.

"What the hell, Ryoma? All right, forbidding me from talking to him was already weird. But now you're telling me to stop looking at him? Ryoma, this is ridiculous! What's gotten into you?"

I hissed, "Just stop looking at him! I don't like it."

Momo was mad now. "What the hell? You're jealous because I'm arguing with him? Ryoma, you know I love you! Or are you that unsure of our relationship? You don't trust me?"

Instantly, I knew the tide had turned. He'd taken it the wrong way. That wasn't why I was mad at all. I knew Momo loved me. "No, that's not what I meant at all. It's just…"

"It's just what?" Sure he was correct, Momo pressed his advantage. "You're jealous of Mamushi? Ryoma, I thought you trusted me more than that! What kind of relationship do we have if we can't trust each other?"

The words piled up in my throat, blocking it so that I couldn't talk, couldn't speak, couldn't even breathe. I could only watch as Momo's eyes filled with anger once more- this time directed at me. And suddenly, I understood.

"Ryoma, if this is what it's going to be like, I don't know if I want to stay in this relationship. I know we agreed to only see each other, but not letting me talk or look at other people? That's going too far. I think we should stop seeing each other."

No. I couldn't believe it. We were breaking up. After so many years, after so many memories, we were breaking up. I finally managed to find my voice. "No… Momo…" _My moon bunny…my love…_

Momo turned away, infinite sorrow evident in his eyes. "I really do love you, Ryoma. But I don't think this will work between us. Maybe we should just stay friends." He started walking away.

I still couldn't speak past the lump in my throat. I couldn't run after him. I couldn't do anything but fall to my knees, tears streaming down my face as he left me. I was alone. I was single.

Too late, I had understood why I was so upset. Too late, I had realized the significance of Momo's anger.

When his cheeks were flushed with anger, his eyes sparking with rage, he was in the height of passion. I only wanted him to show that kind of face to me. A face filled with passion. Not of rage, but of pleasure.

New Moon

_The moon is a lonely, faraway place. There is nobody there; nobody to talk to, nobody to hear. Nobody to love._

I went to our stargazing spot on the night of the full moon, just as always. In fact, I went all three days of the full moon, hoping that I would see Momo there sometime. But he'd never taken stargazing as seriously as I did. He'd only gone because I was so adamant about it. He didn't show up, even though I stayed up all night long waiting for him each night.

The last night of the full moon came. Momo still didn't come. Alone on that hill, warmed only by my jacket, watching the stars twinkling above me, I thought sadly how very, very far away the moon seemed. I reached up my hand, but I knew that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't be able to grab it.

I let my hand fall limply to the soft green grass beside me as my tears started to fall.


End file.
